Another hearty soup that was adapted from The Charmed Kitchen by Sherrie that has not only amazing flavor but looks like it would be the perfect choice for one of the wintry days coming up in November.Below Sherrie add tomato powder which she made by using dried peels and pulp and thin tomato slices and putting them into her dehydrator to dry. Sherrie then put them in a grinder to make the powder. This ingredient is optional but is a great tip for using all the parts of your tomatoes. Thank you Sherrie for letting me again show off your work and this flavorful recipe.From Sherrie: Hubby just ate some, (Mr Picky) and he approves! I just ate a bowl too, added a 1/2 cup rice to my bowl and put the soup over that. It was pretty tasty!

Preparation : Prepare 7 quarts, lids, and rings. Sterilize the jars and keep them in the hot water till its time for processing. Make sure to fill your pressure canner with the recommended amount of water and bring it to a simmer. Prep onions, peppers, tomatoes, and garlic.

Cooking: Using medium fry pan brown ground meat. Using a colander drain and rinse the meat to remove as much fat as possible. Combine ingredients in a large pot and bring up to a boil. Turn heat down to a simmer and cook until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Stir from time to time. Add remaining spices and cook 5 minutes longer.

Filling the jars: On a dishtowel place your hot jars and using your funnel in each jar fill leaving 1” headspace. Remove air bubbles and refill to the proper headspace if necessary. Taking a clean papertowel wet it with vinegar and wipe the rims of the jars removing any food particles that would interfere with a good seal. Using your magic wand extract the lids from the hot water and place them on the now cleaned rims. Add your rings to the tops of each of the jars and turn to seal just "finger tight". Processing: Make sure your rack is on the bottom of the canner and place the jars in the pressure canner. Lock the lid and turn up the heat bring the canner to a boil. Vent steam for 10 minutes, then close the vent by adding the weighted gauge or pressure regulator (for dial gauge canner). Process pints for 75 minutes at 10 lbs of pressure (11 lbs for dial gauge canner) and quarts at 90 minutes. (Adjust pressure for altitude) When complete turn off the heat and let pressure return to zero naturally. Wait two minutes longer and open vent. Remove canner lid. Wait 10 minutes then remove jars and place on dishtowel in a place that they will sit overnight to cool. Do not touch or move them till the next morning.Sealing: Some time in the next hour your jars will be making a "pinging" or "popping" noise. That is the glass cooling and the reaction of the lids being sucked into the jar for proper sealing. Some recipes may take overnight to seal. Check your lids and reprocess any jars that did not seal. Remove rings for storage.

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Altitude Adjustments

The gel point method is also noted in many cookbooks and is a process to test the gel of a jam, jelly or preserve. There are two methods of testing using a spoon or a plate.

SHEET TEST

Dip a cold metal spoon into the boiling soft spread. Lift the spoon and hold it horizontally with edge down so that the syrup runs off the edge. As the mixture cooks, the drops will become heavier and will drop off the spoon separately but two at a time. When the two drops join together and “sheet” off the spoon, the gel stage has been reached.

FREEZER TEST

Chill a small saucers in the freezer. Place a teaspoonful of soft spread on the chilled saucer and place in the freezer for 1 minute. Remove the saucer from the freezer and push the edge of the spread with your finger. A mixture that has reached the gel stage will be set, and the surface will wrinkle when the edge is pushed.